World Space Week Oct. 4 – 10

October 4, 2006 -- This year World Space Week's theme is “Space for Saving Lives.” Participants will focus on topics such as disaster management, telemedicine, and environmental protection, all of which use space research to help humans on Earth.

The U.N. General Assembly declared Space Week a holiday in 1999 to celebrate the dates that Sputnik-1, the first man-made satellite, was launched in 1957 and when the assembly adopted the Outer Space Treaty of 1967.

Recent developments in space science include the discovery of another ring around Saturn, pictures of a dark spot on Uranus taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, and Pluto losing its status as a planet.

The Space Studies Board provides an independent, authoritative forum for all aspects of space science and applications, and it serves as the focal point within the National Academies for activities on space research.

• Space Studies Board

• World Space Week
• International Astronautical Congress